Before officials in Longboat Key make a move to possibly incorporate the town into a single county, the city plans to launch a website and take a straw poll of residents to see if there is public interest. The website will give residents the information to figure out how moving to the neighboring county would affect their tax rates. Based on 2016-17 rate, town officials figured out that if Longboat Key was incorporated entirely into Sarasota County, residents currently in the Manatee County portion of the town would save about $2.5 million a year in taxes. But if the entire town was part of Manatee County, taxpayers currently in Sarasota County would pay an additional $6.2 million.
